Free school meals – a healthy and sustainable school meal system
Cynnal Cymru hosted a second roundtable looking at the implementation of universal free school meals (uFSM) in primary schools in Wales.
26 October 2022
The Foundational Economy has core links with a sustainable future for Wales. Cynnal Cymru is working with partners to take this forward...
Foundational Economy
The Foundational Economy is relevant to both policy-makers and place-makers. Cynnal Cymru works with both to explore and explain why this part of the economy matters to sustainability.
The Foundational Economy covers those areas of the economy that provide the goods and services essential for everyday life.
Health and social care, food, housing, energy and utilities, construction, retailers on the high street and tourism are all areas [or ‘zones’] of the foundational economy.
These goods and services are generally provided by public bodies; (directly or through funding outsourced activities); small and medium enterprise (SME) firms; and much larger companies such as privatised utilities or branches of mobile companies such as the major supermarkets.
The presence – or absence – of a thriving local foundational economy can have a profound impact on places and the communities that they support in terms of goods, services, distribution of income and skills and job opportunities.
Why does the Foundational Economy matter?
- FE is the part of the economy providing for essential human needs, regardless of geography, income or status
- Estimates suggest that the foundational economy provides four in every ten jobs in Wales and receives £1 in every three that we spend
- The businesses and institutions within the FE have a major role to play in helping tackle the nature and climate emergencies, through the ways that they help influence supply chains and customers, as well as through their own operations
- In some parts of Wales the ‘foundational economy’ is the economy.
A Foundational Economy built on principles of Fair Work and functioning within climate and environmental limits is key to achieving a Prosperous, Resilient, Healthier and More Equal Wales.
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The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES)
The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) is a Manchester based charity working to develop local economies for the benefit of local people, place and planet. CLES works with organisations and people who make up and have influence over local economies, bringing them together and providing support to devise solutions and deliver positive change. CLES’s practice-based research explores different routes and best practice to achieve this.
Foundational Economy Research Ltd (FERL)
Foundational Economy Research Ltd (FERL) is an action research agency producing analysis to improve understanding of the foundational economy and offering practical ways of improving its function for producers and the public. FERL works with and for government, third sector and trade bodies, building partnerships to support long term implementation of its research.
Explore our research articles
Community wealth building and The Scottish Government
Cities and regions policy – community wealth building.
10 January 2023
10 January 2023
Place-based studies
A collection of research and case studies that supports the foundational economy.
10 January 2023
A low carbon economy
Since 2020, Cynnal Cymru has facilitated a community of practice on behalf of Welsh Government exploring how to grow and support the foundational economy. Its main areas of focus cover Housing, Social Care, Food and Future Skills.
10 January 2023
The case studies and blogs below share insights into some of the different approaches that have been taken to support the foundational economy in Wales and to reshape or strengthen its sectors and communities.
Explore our case studies
Lessons from Scotland on free school meals
Earlier this year, Welsh Government announced the intention to offer free schools meals to every primary school pupil in Wales. This will start, for the youngest learners, in September 2022.
Grow your Own – The Hywel Dda approach to building local skills and well-being
In 2019 Hywel Dda University Health Board took a bold step to start an Apprenticeship Academy. This was partly in response to the increasing financial costs of using agency staff
Bocs Bwyd – an inclusive career pathway in the Vale of Glamorgan
Working with the construction sector, Ysgol y Deri has established a sustainable catering enterprise that supports pupils with Additional Learning Needs to enter the workforce.
United Welsh: “Change happens at the speed of trust.”
How trusted relationships with tenants, communities and suppliers are shaping the future for Blaenau Gwent’s Housing Associations
Torfaen Council: Supporting the foundations
Torfaen County Borough Council take a new approach to supporting local business in Pontypool with the help of a Foundational Economy Challenge Fund grant.
Flintshire County Council: Investing in ‘micro-care’ to strengthen the foundational economy
Flintshire County Council has used a Welsh Government Foundational Economy Challenge Fund grant to pilot a new model of micro-provision of care services. 14 micro-carers have been created helping to grow the county’s care sector provide well-paid, sustainable jobs.
ELITE Paper Solutions: Building bridges between the public sector and social enterprise
ELITE Paper Solutions has used a Welsh Government Foundational Economy Challenge Fund grant not only to grow its commercial success but to demonstrate the benefits of its social aims and fully inclusive workplace.
Practice Solutions: A holistic approach to community resilience in Rhondda Cynon Taf
Practice Solutions received a Foundational Economy Challenge Fund to explore how local businesses could be better linked with both the community and the public sector with benefits not only to the local economy but to wider well-being.
Simply Do Ideas: Helping Wales lead the way in public sector innovation
Digital innovation platform, Simply Do Ideas, received support from the Foundational Economy Challenge Fund in January 2020. The funding was used to address key barriers that public sector organisations face when innovating and which can often prevent them from accessing the best ideas to solve strategic organisational challenges. Here is the result…
Cynnal Cymru facilitates a community of practice on the foundational economy on behalf of Welsh Government. It focuses on core foundational sectors of Food, Social Care and Future Skills.
The FE CoP meets regularly to exchange knowledge, share learning and encourage innovation. A key role is to help broker links between projects and partners from all sectors with a view to practical problem-solving and collaboration. The meetings are member-led and highly participative, with representatives from local authority and housing association backgrounds, training providers, community organisations and third sector networks and Welsh Government officials.
If you would be interested in joining a session or finding out more, please get in contact via shwmae@cynnalcymru.com
Background
The Foundational Economy Community of Practice started in July 2020 as part of the Welsh Government’s Foundational Economy Challenge Fund. Its aim was to share learning and innovation, build relationships and encourage collaboration.
The Challenge Fund provided support to projects looking to try out new ways to address challenges – some emerging, some age-old – faced by foundational economy businesses or those relying on their services.
These included:
- the recruitment, retention and skills of the workforce
- the delivery structures and design of services
- the recruitment, retention and skills of the workforce
- the delivery structures and design of services
The aim was to explore a range of solutions that could potentially generate viable, adaptable models that could be scaled up and spread to strengthen local economies and community wealth-building.
Staring in 2019 with an initial 52 projects, it was always expected that some experiments would not succeed and conditions were made even more challenging by the impact of the pandemic.
A community of practice was also however put in place to help capture some of the rich learning and insights generated by all the projects taking part. The examples in the case studies below give a flavour of the projects supported by the Fund – their successes, challenges and above all learning, about how best the foundational economy in their area or sector can be supported. The Fund closed in March 2021 but, at the request of members, the community of practice has continued. Its role continues to be to share learning, encourage and expand dialogue and facilitate collaboration.
Quick Resources
Latest Updates / Events
Free school meals – a healthy and sustainable school meal system
Cynnal Cymru hosted a second roundtable looking at the implementation of universal free school meals (uFSM) in primary schools in Wales.
26 October 2022
More from the foundational economy
Clare Sain-Ley-Berry
Interim Director
Clare has a background in delivering partnership projects for the natural environment and sustainable resource use, applying this to help shape our policy and development work. She enjoys facilitating collaboration across sectors and devising practical programmes to deliver strategic aims.
Clare leads on Cynnal Cymru’s work for a thriving natural environment, which includes our Nature Wise eco literacy training, as well as contributing to work around the foundational economy and decarbonisation.